Sister Mary's Justice Notes | November 22

CSJ Justice Notes: November 22, 2017

Marian School invites CSJs to Join Witnessing Whiteness Group

Marian Middle School is forming a ‘Witnessing Whiteness’ group in the new year. The 10-week program, designed for those who identify and experience the world as white, will meet every other week to discuss the book, WitnessingWhiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It (2nd edition). The program will help participants speak about race and racism, explore white privilege, and discuss ways of being better allies with people of color in a supportive and non-threatening environment. The group will meet on Mondays, 6-8 p.m. at the school. Registration will cap at 25, with special preference to Marian faculty and staff. The text will be offered at a reduced rate for early registrants. Participants must commit to eight of the 10 meetings: Jan. 22 and 29; Feb. 12 and 26; March 5, 19 and 26; April 9, 16 and 30; and May 14. For more information or to register, contact S. Sarah Heger at sheger@csjsl.org. Registration is due by Nov. 25 for a discount on the text.

‘Tolton’ Performed at Cardinal Ritter Prep Nov. 28

“Tolton,” a live drama of the life of Missouri native Augustus Tolton, the first Roman Catholic priest in the U.S. publically known to be black, will be presented on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. at Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School Commons, 701 N. Spring Ave. It is sponsored by St. Charles Lwanga Center. Tickets are $10. For more information, contactwww.lwangacenter.org. If interested in carpooling, contact S. Barb Jennings at bjennings@csjsl.org

Catholics Press International Community for Ambitious Action to Combat Global Warming

As United Nations climate change negotiations wound down in Bonn, Germany, Catholics, including the pope, pressed the international community for more ambitious action to combat global warming. The push included urging from 161 U.S. Catholic organizations and universities that their government recommit to seriously addressing what they called “a moral issue that threatens core Catholic commitments.” Read more here.

The Invisible Character of White Privilege

“Those of us who are white have a very hard time seeing that we constantly receive special treatment just because of the color of our skin. This “white privilege” makes it harder for us to recognize the experiences of people of color as valid and real when they speak of racial profiling, police brutality, discrimination in the workplace, ongoing segregation in schools, lack of access to housing, and on and on. This is not the experience of most white people, so how can it be true?” Read more of Franciscan Father Richard Rohr’s reflection here.

Tell Congress: We Must Keep Firearms Away from Abusers

When abusers have access to firearms, both the lives of domestic violence victims and their families are in danger. Despite federal laws prohibiting some abusers' access to firearms, loopholes and lax enforcement allow abusers to obtain dangerous firearms with little difficulty. The National Network to End Domestic Violence urges us to tell Congress to make commonsense, life-saving changes to prevent gun violence. Click here.

Most Women in Prison Are Victims of Domestic Violence

Women's incarceration has increased a startling 14-fold since 1970. Like their male counterparts, these women are also overwhelmingly women of color. Despite the shocking increase in their numbers, however, the specific issues and needs of female prisoners have largely gone ignored. In particular, it's worth noting that the vast majority of women in prison are single mothers who have been victims of domestic and/or sexual violence. Read more.

Immigrants Population is a Smaller Percentage of U.S. than 100 Years Ago

An anti-immigrant group took advantage of newly released Census data to sound the alarm over the size of the immigrant population in the United States. The fact is immigrants now make up 13.5 percent of the U.S. population, which is less than the 14.7 percent share in 1910. More here.

Pope Asks Leaders to Imagine a World without Nuclear Weapons

Pope Francis last week warned that nuclear deterrence policies developed during the Cold War provided a "false sense of security" and he urged government leaders to instead pursue a world free of atomic weapons. Francis welcomed Nobel laureates, United Nations officials, NATO representatives and diplomats from countries with the bomb to a Vatican conference aimed at galvanizing global support for complete nuclear disarmament. Read more.

Crowds Protest on Capitol Hill in Support of "Dreamers" Legislation

Hundreds of high school and college-aged students filled four floors of balconies in the atrium of the Senate Office Building last week urging legislation to help so-called "Dreamers." Congress is working to formulate new legislation to provide a permanent fix for the status of young immigrants who came to the country illegally as children, and who have been able to remain in the U.S. as part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Read more here.